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Overall a good starter Android, tough and sturdy and does a lot!

This was my first Android phone, after upgrading from my Sony Ericcsson C905 (which I loved until it started playing up).

The look: Its sleek, a little thicker and weightier than my current Samsung Galaxy S2, but it feels a lot more substantial in your hand. It has a nice sized 4" screen, nice and bright and clear. There are choices in colours I believe, but I have this in black. It has 3 buttons across the middle of the bottom of the handset (menu back and home). The plastic that makes up the battery cover is easy to remove, and has a nice tactile grip to it. You have a button on the top for power and to lock the screen, a volume button on the top right and a dedicated camera button on the bottom right side.

The Insides: To lock the phone you push the power button once, and I have mine set up to swipe the bottom icon to the right, you can also change your phone to silent/vibrate/silent off by swiping right. As most Android phones you have a few home screens to hold important shortcuts on, by swiping right and left. The reaction of the swipe on the menus with this phone is a little slower/not as responsive as some of the newer phones like my Galaxy S2, but it works.you have a grid icon on the bottom of the home screen which, once tapped, opens up the rest of the phone. The nice thing about the inside menu is that you can still see your home screen picture behind it. The screen is good, its bright and clear, but you can tell that there is more to be done in later models to make it look completely crisp, as its not HD quality (very close tho!)It has a nice loud volume setting, so (depending on what ringtone you have) you can usually hear all calls/texts. You can customise your own ringtone from music as well as your message tones.It has Facebook and Twitter installed, E-mail, a very nice 8MP camera. On the subject of the camera, the flash it pretty pointless as it is just a torch lighting up the area (which doesn't work in dark areas).

Battery life is quite good, although works a lot better with no programmes running in the background, and with your internet turned off, but that is the same with any smart phone. The charging slot has a little cover you have to open up to charge the phone, this is useful for keeping it clean and free of dust, but can be a little fragile so be careful when you are charging your phone!

There is one thing I notice above all other things about this phone and that is that it seems very slow to perform tasks. For example, if you press onto your messages, it takes a few seconds for it to load it all up. If this is going to be your first Android phone, or you are not bothered about the speed of its responses, then I would definitely recommend this phone.

Things to get as well with this phone are a pack of screen protectors to stop that lovely screen getting scratched to an inch of its life, and some sort of case. I bought a gel case, so that it protected the main part of the phone, and you don't have to take your phone out of it before using it.

It has everything you would need from a phone, they are intuitive, well laid out, and fun to use.

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A good looking phone, but looks aren't everything. Mostly its a heap.

---Why do I even have a smart phone?---

Phones are a pain in the backside. I always remember Stephen Fry saying something about phones that struck me as true to the core. A phone is intrusive and horrible, you'd not put up with a friend standing saying 'SPEAK TO ME, SPEAK TO ME, SPEAK TO ME' till you dropped what you were doing, so why do we allow phones to get away with it? I'm pretty certain this feeling came about with the advent of mobile phones as before them, I'd run to pick up the phone with a feeling of excitement. Now I see them as a curled wire around my neck, constantly with me. Throw in that my friends have a bad habit of only phoning me when they have something to bi**h about, I was all too happy not to have anything capable of more than texting.

Unfortunately, my ex DID want a phone (more than likely to contact other men behind my back) and I was a mug and it got put under my name. After my ex died (the first time; he came through it quite well as I found out when I called his employer distraught and got told it was all fake) I decided that the best thing to do would be to reclaim the phone that was in my name so as not to sully my credit rating any further. Six months later I got it back and was finally dragged kicking and screaming into the world of Android.

---Price---

The first thing you'll need to know is the price. You can pick one of these handsets up for anywhere between £150 and £350 depending on how new or abused they are. You can also get them on contracts with most mobile phone providers and it in theory should cover your usage too. Mine is with Vodafone and I pay £31 a month over 24 months. This gives me my shiny handset, 300 minutes of calls, unlimited texts and "unlimited" data usage (which on this contract means 1GB, a full 500mb above what you can normally get now, I can't wait for that argument when I switch to a new contract!). Obviously your plan will differ depending on provider and what you want, but that's an idea of what's out there.

---The look---

The phone looks great. Its front is black apart from a thin strip of three silver buttons along the bottom and the silver XPERIA and SONY ERRICSON labels, stylishly placed at the top and bottom of the screen. The sides are silver and the back is black again. Basically it's pretty. The only downside of it is the fact that it's so shiny, soon as you touch it, you get a big noticeable fingerprint or line on the phone. When the screen is sleeping the phone can look dirty unless you wipe it after every touch. I'm not the world's biggest clean freak and it annoys me. You will notice your finger smears quite a lot when the phone is on its lowest and medium contrast settings too. You don't notice it much at all when it's on the high contrast setting however that can drain your battery quite a bit. There is also a tiny little LED in the top right corner of the screen that is used for notifications. You can even set the colour of the LED for different things.

---Set up + Manual---

The set up of the phone is fairly painless, it guides you through everything it needs to know such as your Facebook and Googlemail account details. If you don't have either then your use of this phone will be a bit limited, you should at least set up the latter as it's what most apps will use to log you in and store your information. Without Facebook you won't be able to use some of the more handy functions of the phone, such as contact syncing. If, like my self, you have an old sim card with all your contacts on, however, Facebook syncing can lead to a lot of multiple contacts and time spent trying to match up your numbers with the Facebook information. The only handy part of the Facebook sync is that your contacts pictures will automatically be updated with their current Facebook profile picture. Great if you use Facebook, not so great if you don't.

---Manual---

There is a fully comprehensive manual that came with the phone though I didn't really find it much help. It was talking about stuff I'd never even heard of before (being new to android, that was pretty much everything). Manuals for phones are interesting things, they are too tech-y for the people who need them and useless for people who are tech-y enough to understand them. Thankfully the phone is quite user friendly. Clocks, calendars, alarms, office suites and all the basics you really need come already installed on the phone as well as the android app market so you can choose to install whatever other apps/programmes you so wish!

---Security Breached? Nah, just patents---

To unlock the phone, you simply slide your finger along the bottom of the screen (almost the same as an i-phone! Imagine that!) At this point you have a choice of security features where you can either draw a pattern to join up some dots or enter a code. To make it even more secure you can choose whether the phone displays your pattern while you draw it or you can make it so that the phone vibrates when you hit one of the dots on the way round your pattern. Why would you want to get rid of your pattern? If you are in a cinema (for example), anyone behind you will be able to see your unlock code as proved by the fact I recently had to change mine because some really ugly guy in the cinema had the exact same pattern as me. I was distraught. The second option is much more secure as no one will see your unlock code but it does make it quite hard to get your code right.

---Buttons, buttons, buttons---

Most things will be done via the touch screen facility. There are three buttons along the bottom of the phone. The first (left button) will bring up the menu options for whatever you are doing at that point. If you push it while on your internet it will bring up bookmarks, refresh, forward etc. The middle button is your desktop button. No matter what you have open, hit the middle button and you will instantly flip back to the desktop on your phone. The other programmes will still be running so it won't make you lose your place on anything either. The third button (on the right) is your back button. You use this to go back one step at a time if you need to. It also makes your keyboard disappear when you are done typing.

On the right hand side of the phone at the bottom there is a camera button which acts as your shutter button when the camera function is on and also acts as a shortcut to your camera if you hold it down. If I'm being honest though, I find it quicker to have a camera shortcut on my desktop and access it that way as you need to hold the button for a couple of seconds for it to load. Compare that to the half a second it takes to tap the desktop shortcut, it's a bit redundant. I suppose if you like your phone screen to be uncluttered it would be a decent function.

---Camera---

The camera itself is 8.1 megapixels. The picture quality is alright if you have good lighting but can be a bit lacking if not. You do get the option to use the phone's LED light which can lead to washing your picture out quite a bit. A lot of the photos can also be quite blurry if you don't have an incredibly steady hand. I also find using the phone as a camera to be a little difficult, as the phone is so thin, it's quite hard to grip it properly and I always feel like I'm going to drop it when I use it as a camera. The shutter button needs quite a forceful push too which makes it that little bit more worrying to hold awkwardly. Personally I stick to my digital camera as it feels more stable to hold and gives a much better quality picture. It isn't the worst camera in the world, but it's also not the best.

---Volume---

On the same side as the camera button at the top there is the volume button that controls 3 things. Ringer volume, Media volume and In-Call volume. If you are on your desktop or doing anything that doesn't involve watching a video or listening to music, the simple up and down buttons control the volume of the ringer. I usually keep mine on silent or vibrate as the ringer on this phone is very loud. This is a good thing if you are out somewhere noisy but can give you a bit of a scare if you are somewhere quiet.

If you open up a video on YouTube or a music file on your phone, once it starts playing you can use the same buttons to control the Media Volume. This is a bit annoying as you need to open the media before you can play with the volume setting which can occasionally lead to being caught playing with your phone when you shouldn't be. Lastly, Call volume is controlled when you start a call. Simple as that.

---Media Mad---

If you are one of those folks who like your media this phone is brilliant for it. Videos are nice and clear on the 4 inch screen and the sound is great too. You can use your phone to store your music if you want to use it as a makeshift walkman or i-thingie. The only downside is that, as with everything else you can do on this phone, it drains the battery something awful.

You can also use your music as a ringtone if you wish and there are loads of apps out there to help you lift out your favourite part of the song. You can assign as many different ringtones as you want to everyone in your contacts if you like. I tried it for a few people but I found I ended up ignoring the people who had a song against their name because I didn't realise it was my phone ringing. Now I just have one default piece of music for everyone: Zelda Dubstep, oh yes, I'm that geeky.

---Stop telephoning me---

Being a mobile phone, you may have guessed you can actually make calls on this chunk of techno-wonder. I find the call volume to be great and the sound is very clear on it. Speaker-phone is also very clear and loud which is handy if you really want to make a call that everyone can hear. There are a couple of small issues I have with the phone function. Occasionally instead of hanging up, I accidentally hit a button at the bottom of the screen which puts me back to the main screen of the phone. The phone call, however, still continues till I navigate my way back into the phone call screen. This has lead to a few random answer phone messages being left by myself. That though is my own fault for hitting the wrong button.

If you are on a call that you need to select options through your keypad, you need to hit a button to display the keypad. The screen also goes blank when you hold it up to your ear so you need to give it a little shake to get the display to show again. I find this a little bit annoying as it totally throws me off my train of thought when I'm on a call and met with a blank screen. Not a huge issue, just a niggle.

My main issue with making phone calls is that the case for the back of the phone manages to catch my hair nearly every time I make a phone call which is not only a magical feat since I have a number one haircut (very short hair) but also ridiculously painful. Many a phone call has been halted while I try desperately to pull the phone off of my hair without swearing too loudly down the receiver.

---Textual Healing---

The text message function is what I use the most. Like most other smart phones, rather than listing each message individually, it lists them by contact, presenting them more like a conversation box on any messenger programme. You can't really amend the way the text screens look as its all default blue and navy colours. You can, however, download apps that replace the basic text message function which can look a bit nicer on the eye such as Handcent. The only dilemma the text function has caused me is that I now feel a bit weird putting my three kisses at the end of every message as there doesn't seem to be an end to the conversations. Due to the fact that all my friends are used to getting three kisses, they all thought I was annoyed at them when I stopped and got a bit upset. Even now my little brother texts and asks where his kisses are if I forget. That's less an issue with my phone and more my friends and family being a little over sensitive.

---Internet functions---

There are two ways to connect to the internet on this phone; Wi-Fi or 3G. If you have your Wi-Fi on it will reduce your battery by searching for connections wherever you go. You can save numerous Wi-Fi signals to your phone so it connects automatically when you pop round to your friend's house for a cuppa if you wish. Having the Wi-Fi on doesn't use any of your monthly data allowance though, so it's a good idea to use it as often as you can. There is a handy little widget you can put on your desktop to turn Wi-Fi on and off at the tap of a button. Usually when the phone is connected via Wi-Fi it is very quick to load new pages, pictures and documents. Conversely, there are times when my phone has not liked Wi-Fi for some reason and refused to load anything while it was on.

Using the phones 3G is considerably slower. I find it rather frustrating when I'm out and about as it really is hit and miss if you will be able to access whatever it is you want to look at. It does take a lot longer to load at the best of times compared to when you are using Wi-Fi.

Another small annoyance is that some sites won't let you view the full version from this phone. Facebook is a perfect example. I find the app terrible to use but because I'm using a phone it won't allow me to view the same Facebook as I'd see on my computer at home. I'd have thought there should be an option to make normal browsing a default rather than an option. I know I would prefer it if there was.

---Running Smoothly?---

Slow systems are something I only ever had to deal with at work. The x10 however has brought this problem into my phone-life too. Most of the time it is fine, but when it lags, boy does it lag. At least twice a day a program or app freezes when it's loading and has to be closed. Occasionally even my texts don't open up straight away and sometimes I find myself typing away and looking at the screen and it hasn't even caught up with the first word I typed. I'd say it was a massive problem; it usually sorts itself within about 10 seconds but it does happen frequently enough for it to become noticeable and (depending on my mood) a nuisance. There was one instance where my alarm app froze and therefore my alarm didn't go off. As I wasn't awake to confirm it could re-load itself I managed to sleep in and be a whole 30 minutes late for work. When it isn't crashing all over the place, the keys are generally very responsive and mostly quite accurate.

---Charge it---

The charger at first glance is a neat little thing. It consists of two parts, a plug head with a USB slot in the back and a USB wire. This means that you can double up your charger as a connection to a computer too. This is handy for transferring files to and from your phone quickly and painlessly and in theory you can charge your phone wherever there is a USB slot kicking about (you know, every computer on the planet that was made in the last 12ish years?). Theory doesn't always work in practice though. I've found issues with the charger the phone came with and on every other one I've tried. Not only does it take the phone a lot longer to charge when it's plugged into a computer, sometimes it gets picky about charging at all. Many a time in the last year and a half have I had to sit for ten minutes getting the wire into an exact position with an intricate system of pulleys and blue tac (ok not quite) before it will give me a stable-ish connection. This can be even more frustrating if you have to update your phones operating system and you can't keep a connection long enough for it to work as you then have to restart the whole process again.

The LED on the front of the phone will light up when you plug it in to charge and will give you an indicator of how charged your phone is by showing Red Amber or Green. Always handy for a quick glance to tell if the phone is connected, charging and/ or ready.

---The Big Bad Battery Life---

Battery life is something I never, ever, ever had an issue with before android. Now it is the bane of my existence. It takes anywhere between 1 and 3 hours for my phone to charge depending on where I am charging it. Directly from the plug socket is the quickest; the computer at work is the slowest (all using the same usb cable, might I add). When your phone is unplugged, depending on your usage I have found it frustrating to say the least. Here's a run down of how long it lasts.

8 hours - If I send two or three texts and check my emails once.

5 hours - Two or three texts, a five minute phone call, and some light online browsing

2 hours - Forty texts, browsing online, and a ten minute phone call

45 minutes to an Hour - Playing Angry Birds (because sometimes you just have to)

Not exactly fantastic, especially if you'd like to use your phone throughout the day. I've found myself having to ration its use and turn the contrast to the lowest setting at all times. Higher settings (as mentioned earlier) can take hours off your battery time.

The LED on the front will constantly blink red when you get to about 15% remaining. It's almost as if the phone is trying to waste its remaining battery power. It's also quite annoying if your phone is in your line of sight and you can't charge it yet.

---Go on, Make my day---

The other unfortunate issue I've came across (and from what I've read might be a common fault with the phone) when you are charging your phone, a lot of the time if you use it to browse the internet or use any apps that touch your data allowance the phone decides it just can't handle it and shuts down. It then restarts and continues a loop of shutting down and restarting until you unplug the charger. This obviously means that even if you are smart enough to bring your charger with you, you still might not get full use of the phone while it's charging if you are lucky enough to have your phone pull a fleepy on you.

---Any other random stuff?---

Yes, as I touched on in the camera section, the phone is sometimes quite hard to keep a grip of as it's so thin. Due to this there have been many mornings while lying in bed that have begun with my phone slipping from my hands and face-planting me. It's not very painful as the handset is rather light but I'll be considering a phone with a bit better grip on the sides next time.

I have noticed that rather than making every attempt to catch my phone when it goes flying out of my hand, my body has given up. I literally just throw my hands up above my head and clench myself for the clatter now. It's bizarre. It's almost like I know I am not going to be able to catch it. That being said, from all the times I have basically thrown my phone at something by accidental emphatic gestures while texting and talking at the same time, the phone hardly has a mark on it. Just two tiny marks that are hardly that noticeable at all unless you look for them.

There are two larger scratches on the screen now thanks to forgetting I had my keys in my pocket, but even they are fairly faint. It definitely holds up to being battered about. Maybe try not to let it meet your keys though.

---Fin---

So, to recap: The phone has all the functions of any other smart phone. It's fairly user friendly even if it does like to beat me up and pull my hair. The buttons are quite responsive and accurate most times, but it does have a nasty habit of lagging behind occasionally. It's not the best phone on the planet for internet browsing without Wi-Fi but it eventually gets the job done. Battery life is possibly the worst feature on this phone and you pretty much need to take any chance you can to charge it and it will become a complete pain in the backside. Throw in some really bad restarting and connection issues when charging as well as the frequent crashing and I wouldn't really recommend the phone if you are remotely tech-savvy. If you are simply looking for something to send texts and make phone calls then this is a decent enough model but probably way over-qualified and priced for the job. As an introduction to Android it has served me well, but I will be avoiding getting another when I come to the end of my contract in August. A measly 2 stars from me: one for looking pretty and one for being decent for calls and texts.

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Bad choice, better look for a samsung or htc!!

The Xperia X10 was among the first line of smartphone models rolled out by Sony Ericsson in 2010. The handset was claimed to be the most promising among the range of smartphones competing in the market at that time.The model was born through a swedish-japanese alliance and the X10 also was their first android proposition.The X10 was a bold step taken by Ericsson in the then-raving market of symbian phones.Actually the company entered the year of 2010 openly supporting the three distinctive mobile platforms of Android, Windows phone and Symbian.The X10 was greatly welcome by markets around the world eager to gain access to the features of android.I got my hands on the X10 last year( after a LOT of talk with my dad). Frankly,the first thing that i observed about the model is how shiny and 'BIG' it was.The brilliant 4" display and the side metallic stripes blended into it - A Black Beauty.The bluish theme adds a sense of depth to the screen.The phone came with all the usual stuff- a headphone, a usb connector and charger and a bundled 8GB micro sd.

The 'BIG' does bother a bit though. In the beginning I was the proud owner of a 'BIG' phone, but in time i discovered that it was a bit uncomfortable. But the same 'BIG' has it's advantages too, especially with the great display. The X10 has a brilliant WVGA display with 854 x 480 px resolution and 65K colours. Movies, videos,you say what-everything's great.The handset is of a very attracive build and of course, killer specs(at that time).The front panel has three keys- for options, menu access and the back key. It has a scratch resistant guerilla display which not only helps to rule out eeky peeky scratches that tend to creep up on handsets but also strenghthens the body( i've been dropping my phone face down frequentlThe phone houses a snapdragon 1 Ghz chipset and about 384 MB of RAM.The bundled 8GB is ample storage for my stuff but I feel a bit uncomfortable that the phone's internal memory can't be used for anything except apps and that too only 512MB of the net 1GB. The phone used to blaze in the beginning, but nowadays it does freeze quite a lot.

The x10 supports 'Timescape' and 'Mediascape', two user interfaces which greatly help to integrate all activities on your phone like media, messaging, calls, contacts and even social network updates. I've been using Timescape for access to facebook quickly, and it is pretty great.Timescape is similar to the 'Happenings' and 'Friends stream' apps in Motorola and HTC. It has a 3D graphical interface, and the blocks are called 'splines' and they're really smooth to browse through.Mediascape supports many categories for browsing like recently played, recently added, artists, albums,podcasts and so on. But it does hang and get faulty once in a while. I aven't seen many handsets since the x10 that supports Timescape and Mediascape.

The x10 is also the only model among the first line of ericsson's androids having the possibility of upgrade upto gingerbread. This is a great boon as upgrading the software is recommended for software stability. There's a gigantic list of apps on google play, and most work pretty well on the phone.The default home screen app has 5 screens but apps such as SPB shell or Go Launcher can be used to add more.There are a lot of user interactive live wallpapers too.The phone has a new lock screen too.The web browser supports HTML5, but no essential flash support.The onscreen keypad works great in mine, i've heard about bugs in the older android versions.The X10 is not to support Multi-touch , but surprisingly i do get it on certain apps like OperaMini. There are many pre-installed apps like those of moxier, neoreader, postcard and Track id which is an audio record-and-search app for music.And by the way, i have froyo.It is possible to upgrade to Gingerbread with a pc with the 'pc companion' software and a stable net connection, but i haven't been onto it yet.

THE CAMERA IS COOOOL.Sony Ericsson is reputed for producing great cameraphones and the x10 is no exception.The handset has a whopping 8.1 with autofocus, and i get great clicks often.There is an LED light but it's not even worth mentioning. The LED light just helps to adjust the autofocus and frame the click. I would have preferred a xenon flash.The face and smile detection features are cool(you can even adjust the extent of smiling!)and the geotagging feature often comes in handy. Clicks can even be instantly uploaded to picasa and facebook.Im able to capture a lot of my moments in real HD video in the x10.The video recording is at 30fps at 720p! (Actually, i think the iphone is the only one which has got better-1080p).

The headphones and the speakers have decent audio quality and low noise interference.I felt that the phone has feeble speakers and the speaker port doesn't look so good either, but placed excellently on the side so that in whichever position the x10 is placed, there is no dip in volume. Bass isn't very good and i'd have loved an equaliser.For connectivity the x10 has HSPA with a 7.2 Downlink speed.It has A-Gps, there is no free Gps navigation solution(!).It has Quad band Gsm and Tri band 3g. I get really good speeds when im online, everything loads in a jiffy!

However techy the x10 may be, i still find a lot of downlines.It doesnt support Xvid & Divx. I'd like a nice little VGA cam in the front for video calls. Neither does it support FM radio,and im getting accustomed to internet radios right now. Occassional freezes, dull speakers and no flash support in the browser! The capacitive touch has become a bit insensitive with time and it's annoying sometimes! PHEW!!Then comes the battery. The x10 is powered by a 1500 mAh battery- and believe me when i say, this battery is not sufficient for the 4" screen and the charge draining android apps. The discharging rate accelerates when i use the internet. I have to charge the phone every single day even without much considerable use.

The X10 was claimed to be the most promising of ericsson's initial range of android smartphones but it silently disappeared into a crowd of smartphones with better specs and performance.With the arrival of the killer Nexus and galaxy handsets, i'd say that the x10 is prettyoutdated. It's time i got a new one!

So, if you're planning for a purchase fellas, thumbs down!

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Overall a very good phone worth the price

I purchased the xperia a few months ago looking for a relatively cheaper phone compared to what else there was on the market and I have not been disappointed in the slightest! This phone has impressed me in many ways, a few which I will list here:

The camera is quite powerful for a phone, much better than my old digital one that is now collecting dust. The quality of the pictures and video is high, however I have found it hard to focus at some points, possibly to do with my arm shaking as when it is perfectly still high quality shots can be taken.

The Android app store, while not as large as Apple's, is still full of many fun, entertaining and useful apps - a large proportion of them being free! From enjoyable mini games to music creating tools, there are apps for everyone to use.

Finally the only downside with this phone is that the touch screen can be unresponsive when the phone is under heavy load, a small price to pay for an otherwise brilliant phone.

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Better out there

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 was my first foray in the smartphone world in December 2010. Was I impressed not really. Apps are available from the android market ok the apps are ok but not a patch on apple ones. The phones battery life was absolutley horrendous it drained within 12 hours and this was me only sending a few texts, checking facebook and a couple of quick calls. The sound quality was also garbage was difficult to hear people at times. The 8 mega pixels has no flash and the quality of photos was dark and dull, you could use the photo light in darker places but this blinded the people you took photos of. There was hd recording this was ok and it did run on android gingerbread so it was fast. I also like the green flashing light which let you know if you had a text or missed call. Appearance wise it does look stylish though I had it in white and it never really looked dirty, the screen rarely smeared and didnt attract dust either. All in all I would not recommend.

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I would recommend to anyone!

The Xperia X10 was released in March 2010, and was when I purchased the phone. In the 2 years which have passed since the phone has been available it has managed to stay current and up keeping with the times. Frequent and optional updates are available to keep the phones software up-to-date and the android system in which the handset works allows buyers the chance to keep up with all the latest apps available on the android market. The large screen allows usage of the touch screen to be more efficient than some other models as the bigger screen allows all users to touch and type more effectively and accurately. Do not be put off by the large size of this phone it is slim and sleek and also surprisingly light. The manufactures' state that they use scratch proof glass and I can definitely say within two years of usage I have managed to only have small unnoticeable scratches, even though I have dropped this phone in the past and it has managed to stay this pristine without being in a case for extra protection. I would highly recommend this to anyone on this fact, as one of the main problems with these types of phones is the lack of durability of the overall handset, and for this individual model of phone I can say has completely contradicted expectations.

The memory card required for this phone is the microSD, which is the most commonly used memory card for handsets to date. The memory cards range in size with the largest at present being 32GB. If the phone is being bought new then an 8GB memory card should come with the handset. I have never upgraded my memory card and manage to have all of my media without the need to have a larger memory; however, if this is not the case for you then you are able to buy a larger memory card from most supermarkets, computer shops and phone shops. The camera on the Xperia X10 is 8MP; I would have originally preferred a larger MP on my camera but was surprised with the results of this camera. I have had many images printed alongside my standard digital camera and the quality between the both of them is minimal. It is easy to use, with the additional function button which is located on the side of the handset which makes taking pictures with this phone fast and efficient.I would therefore like to conclude my review of the Xperia X10 and say that I would definitely recommend this phone to people who are interested in smart phones which work on the android system.

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Great basic abilities but doesn't quite fall in line with higher quality phones

For its capabilities and sleek touchscreen, this phone is, in my opinion and experience, great value. However, if you're looking for something to rival the top phones on the market it may disappoint.

The main positives I have found with this phone are:

- The ability to download near enough any app you could possibly want means there isn't much you're left unable to do with this phone- The touchscreen is, mostly, a great bonus for me (having not had one before). Not only does it mean you can play Angry Birds, but it also makes navigating around the phone a lot easier, and I just love being able to swipe my phone to answer a call :) - This is a pretty good looking phone. It's fairly compact length-wise (although the thickness is a bit much - more on that later) and with smooth, clean lines and curves, plus the previously mentioned touchscreen, (therefore a big lack of ugly buttons), you've got a pretty attractive phone here. - I'm clumsy. So this is a great phone for me - I've dropped it LOTS but it still works (speaking of which, RIP Nokia 3210, Nokia 3310, Sony Ericsson W890i)! I sometimes find myself wondering if they've reinforced this baby with steel or some sort of invisible force-field, but I guess it's just a pretty sturdy phone that's designed to stand the test of time.- It's pretty easy to navigate. There's no complexity to how it's set up - it's just a plain menu, which you can swipe along to the next menu of apps, then swipe again to the next one and so on. You can easily organise the apps to your preferred order, so the apps you access the most come up on the first menu. You can also add widgets (I find having Google up is very useful) and four main icons on your homescreen so you can instantly access whatever you prefer, be it SMS, phonebook, Facebook or the like.

The main negatives:- As mentioned earlier, the phone is a little thick and chunky. Some might see this as a positive thing - I guess it's less easy to break - but personally I do prefer them a little thinner- Once you've downloaded quite a lot of apps the phone does seem to become quite slow. I guess deleting the ones you don't really want or need might help that out, but on occasion it does freeze and sometimes turn itself off. Bear in mind this isn't a regular thing, but on the occasions it does happen it can be very annoying, especially if you're in the middle of leaving someone an answerphone and it decides not to let you hang up at the end!- The camera, although reported to be high quality, is actually quite poor. You have to hold it dead still, and don't even think about taking pictures in low light or darker surroundings as you will be sorely disappointed!- When texting the touchscreen keyboard is simply too small. I have small fingers and it is still wayyy too small for me, let alone a big butch man with big butch fingers. I would say if you text constantly and it would bother you if texting was affected by the phone, then this is NOT the phone for you. Fortunately I don't text that much so I can deal with it - The typical problem of hanging up calls with your cheek. I guess this is a problem with most touchscreens but it is a little irritating sometimes!

Overall in my opinion the positives do outweigh the negatives, especially as I am on a very low cost contract, however if you are looking for more of an all rounder with a good camera and easy texting facilities I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

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A brilliant phone, the best I've used.

I have had the Sony Ericsson Xperia for just over a year (2 year contract) and it has been fantastic so far. It is cool, slick, quick, responsive and everything a smartphone should be. The screens are responsive, easy to use and I haven't experienced any crashing or lagging. The phone itself is very customisable, you can change just about anything you like by downloading themes and wallpapers online. The screen is large, but this appealed to me as I enjoy watching videos and having a bulky phone, even if it does jut out of your pocket lots! The screen is quite easy to scratch, but this could be remedied by leaving the plastic casing on or buying a protective screen - I wish I had before it got as scratched as mine has. My own fault for putting it in my pocket with keys. The camera is solid but nothing spectacular, if you're looking for a great camera phone, this isn't it. The wifi and internet is good and easy to use. The phone is able to multitask very well, I often swap between 2-3 things at once, from messaging to internet to games. It is a nifty phone and it does all the tricks and whistles of the iPhone, but without many of the drawbacks. This is a direct competitor for the best of phones, and it is by far the best phone I have ever owned. Yes, it costs a fair amount, but that is to be expected when the phone does this much for you. Love my Xperia!

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Quite a good phone but not amazing

I got this phone a few months ago now and I am getting a bit bored of it now. One of the main reasons I bought this phone was its 8.1 megapixel camera. I really enjoy being able to take photos on my phone but unfortunately none of the photos I took on it turned out well. If my hand was even slightly shaking the photo would turn out blurry and just all round pretty bad quality.

When I got the phone it came with Android 1.6 but it was soon updated to 2.1. Unfortunately though it has never been updated to a newer version. This means that there are tonnes of great apps on the app store that I can't get and this really annoys me.

I think that the phone it's self actually looks really nice. I know that it is a bit chunky but I like that. I got mine in white which I think looks cool. Also, the screen doesn't scratch very easily and doesn't get covered in fingerprints like other phones which is a bit plus!

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I love this phone!! I bought it a year ago, last September, and I am still in love with it. Even though the phone is quite large, it is brilliant for watching videos and making videos on. The camera is amazing and very detailed. The android market on this phone is really good, it works fast and you have the chance to buy lot of different apps and games. This phone is very easy to use and quite simple. It looks very professional when using it. However you have to charge the phone, at least once a day, but you have to with most smart phones now anyway!! The timescape and mediascape on this phone is brilliant, and it makes it different from other smart phones. Sony ericcson have done well!!!

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Not a bad phone, but probably better ones out there

On first glance the Xperia looks the business. The one I have is white and it does look uber cool. With its large screen and few buttons it resembles an iphone which is appealing if you're looking for an alternative. It is pretty easy to navigate around. The home screen can be as bare as you like, as you can add or delete any widgets you like. You can also chose from some default images as your wallpaper or a personal one, which looks great on the huge screen. It comes with an massive 8.1 meagapixel camera. Unfortunately mine rarely works. I'm not sure if it's a manufacturing issue, because I've dropped it or weather others have experienced the same. But when I press the button to take a picture nothing happens. On the few occasions it has decided to work a green square appears around the main focus of whatever you're taking a picture of. And it has to be said, they are good quality but not as good as I was expecting for a camera of such magnitude. Anyway, the other great annoyance with this phone is texting. The buttons (which are touch screen) are too small and most of the time I end up catching the wrong button and typing something highly inappropriate or just plain gobbeldy gook. I have downloaded a keyboard app from my app store to aid this problem, but it's only slightly better. The nice thing is all your texts are saved as continuous threads for each contact so you don't have to sieve through hundreds of individual messages to find something you're looking for. Also whenever you do get a text or missed call, a little green light flashes continuously until you read it. This is sometimes helpful but mostly just annoying, if your in bed it just illuminates the whole room. Overall the phone looks great, and has some nice features about it. Most of my grievences are probably due to the fact it's my first Sony Ericsson and I'm not completey into it yet, but I think there are a lot of things about this phone that could be improved and for the money, there are probably more worthy androids currently on the market.

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Get one!!

Firstly i have to admit i am a fan of Sony Ericsson phones however by no means am i blinkered to the many other options of smart phones that were in the market when this was released last year but for some reason the x10 often seemed to be overlooked when considering the Iphone 4, Samsung Galaxy or HTC Desire and i still question why..

I`ve now owned the handset for approximately 12 months and am still engrossed in it.

I often read reviews commenting on the complicated interface & ericsson menu system however personally i find it simply, fast and logical and not that dissimilar to any other smart phone system. The touch screen doesnt seem quite as intuitive as its competitors but by no means clunky or difficult to work with.

The camera is superb and the 8.1 mpx offering made this extremely attractive when i was considering my options...i havent been disappointed. I will never be known for my photographic skills but the fact the pictures the phone can produce the pictures is does from minimal/ropey user input is a credit to it!

The internet connection speed it exceptional, far quicker than the HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy that my friends own and it even felt that when tethering i was getting quicker speeds than my home network..... whether i was who knows...but its quick..haha

The only real criticism i have is the screen can be hard to see during bright sunshine,especially when taking pictures! Although having the brightness whacked up to the max does combat the problem it comes at the sacrifice of the battery charge.

Overall a great phone and i havent been disappointed in it....renewals now due (i`m still on an old skool 12 month contract) and although better phones are now available im not sure i`m ready to change for some time...

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Not the worst phone ever, but definitely not the best

I recieved the Sony Experia X10 with my contract over 10months ago and it has brought me nothing but problems ever since I received it. I have had Sony Ericson phones for the past 4 years and love them....that was until I bought this one. While the camera is excellent and all the media platforms are very cool and work efficiently, the basic functions of the phone are utterly rubbish. Sometimes it takes me 5minutes just to get into the phone to be able to send a message, and then once attempting to send a message the keys stick on certain letters. I have sent too many messages to people that are just gobbledygook; an absolute nightmare. If you get anything on the screen prepare to be cleaning it for a good 5minutes just so you can use it again. The phone also has a habit of turning itself off for no apparent reason swell. Aside from the bad accessibility and the fact that the most basic functions don't work, it does have a cool status bar at the top which contains all your new messages/ missed phones calls and emails; a great little multimedia machine...when it decides to work that is. To top it off I rang orange to see if i could get a different phone and simply they said no..so i'm stuck with this piece of garbage for another 14months...yay :(

In short: Just buy an Iphone or a BlackberryHope this review warns you before you think about buying one.

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If you can live with frequent charging then its as good as most high end phones.

Introduction:

Sony Ericsson have a bit of a dodgy track record as far as I am concerned and this seems to be backed up by a string of complaints regarding build quality and reliability. Nethertheless I have still had a few SE handsets over the years and they do occasionally produce some great examples. Currently pushing the newest phones in their Xperia range (the Arc and the Play) they still have some premium handsets to choose from that now fall into the 'mid range' price category. One of these is the Xperia X10 which on the face of things is a very impressive phone.

First Impressions:

This phone is large. There is no escaping that but this is due to being dominated by a huge looking 4in high quality capacitive touchscreen. Three physical buttons sit beneath it for shortcut, home and back functions respectively. The top of the phone has a power button, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro USB port secreted under a cover. To the right hand side are volume buttons and a dedicated camera hotkey. The phone is quite weighty but has a very solid feel and this denotes the great build quality. The rear casing is sculpted to a gentle curve which fits nicely in the hand and apart from branding contains just the camera and accompanying 'light'.

OS:

Initially shipped with the ageing Android 1.6 Donut, subsequent software updates have brought this up up to version 2.1 Eclair. This was supposed to be the last firmware upgrade available with many users dismayed at the lack of 2.2 FroYo support on the flagship handset but it is now officially confirmed that the newest version of Android, 2.3 Gingerbread, will be released in Q3 of this year - possibly at the beginning of August.

SE use their own software as an overlay of Android but anyone who has used the open source platform previously will find it both familiar and logical. A big feature of this handset is the Timescape app which aggregates messages with social media such as Twitter and Facebook into a 3D rotating tab showing the latest details and updates in a flashy graphical representation. Similarly, Mediascape aggregates photos, videos and music, cataloging them in groups for fast access. It is more functional than Timescape but still a good way to handle media.

Recent software updates have also brought into play some features that were missing such as HD video recording (well 720p) and multitouch which is par for the course these days on high end phones.

Camera:

Sony Ericsson have a tendency to incorporate some excellent hardware as far as optics are concerned though some may say they should concentrate more on the phone itself. The sensor itself is a 8.1mp one which takes excellent pictures, particularly when there is good ambient light. A host of software features include face recognition, smile detection, geo tagging and touch the focus. A stack of in-menu technical options are available but what I must mention is the LED flash that doesn't actually flash! The LED is essentially a light that provides a fixed point of illumination and needs to be turned on and off as required. Whilst the lack of a flash option is puzzling the light does a fairly good and is very bright.

The camera also captures video at WVGA resolution at 30fps going up to 720p with continuous auto focus. I found footage to be of good quality with decent image stabilisation and not overly sensitive to noise. Colour representation is good but perhaps slightly muted and when I outputted media to my 40in LED I was impressed by the overall standard.

Display:

The screen is the crowning glory of this handset and it looks excellent. A resolution of 480*840 gives a sharp, vivid look which shows off pictures and video very well, including fast moving footage. The screen is capacitive and has an excellent level of response and precision though the glossy finish is highly prone to finger marks. At the time this was probably one of the best displays on the market and it still holds its own but can't match the newer AMOLED screens which are stunning. It is also worth noting that it is hard to see in bright sunlight.

Battery:

The 1500 mha battery is powerful but sadly the phone is more powerful meaning frequent charging is obligatory. Light use will see you through the day but data intensive tasks and GPS will kill it dead in no time meaning you need to keep a plethora of chargers at strategic points to maintain use. Switching off non essentials such as bluetooth and wifi will ease the pain but most people want to use the full functionality of their handset. Perhaps the 2.3 update will address power management?

Ease of use:

Generally the Android OS is well thought out and quite logical though does differ from the more basic (easier?)systems such as Symbian used on Nokias. Messages tend to be held in feeds rather than having traditional in and out boxes but the majority is icon driven for apps and self explanatory headings in the menu sub system. You may find your first Android phone a little alien but within the first few hours everything just seems to make sense.

The physical dimensions of the phone don't make it hard to hold and the contoured back is comfortable. Buttons are sensibly located though I personally prefer the power point to be on the bottom of the phone. Everything feels quite sturdy and entirely functional though I do feel the camera hotkey is slow to respond, as is the accelorometer when switching between portrait and landscape modes.

A very good phone which at the time was the flagship handset for Sony Ericssons Xperia range. Today it is still great though would benefit from the imminent software upgrade. Display, camera, media and social networking are all top drawer as is the stunning display. The only downside is the appalling battery life which is only remedied by crippling functionality. Addressing power issues and finding a replacement, more powerful battery would make this a 5 star phone. As it is, it's a very strong 4 stars.

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a must have smartphone

This smartphone has a very large screen, yet is not ridiculously heavy. The screen has a better picture than many flat screen tv's, making it perfect for watching videos and tv. The camera is absolutely brilliant, taking very high quality images. it also uses blur reduction and facial recognition to make taking photos even easier. The media player takes a little bit to get used to. The headphones that come with the phone have an amazing clarity, picking up notes and parts of songs i had not heard before. They are far better than apple and blackberry headphones. The phone is very quick,and is capable of running multiple apps at a time without problem. The android system which this phone uses is brilliant, and i much prefer it to blackberry. The touchscreen works with the lightest touch and is incredibly versatile, making the large touch qwerty keyboard very easy to use. Can use battery a bit quick though.